Why does change take so long?

Regarding the article, "Plan would end free parking for disabled drivers": Should anyone ever wonder why the United States is losing so much of its world-wide competitiveness and stature, or why U.S. students' performance rates so low even against some so-called Third World nations, a single line in Monday's Herald might offer a clue.In referring to the proposal to change the design of, and regulations governing handicapped parking permits, "licensing officials estimated it would take two years to design a new placard and develop rules on how it would be given out."Some of us are old enough to recall the initial years of World War II. In the first two years, American industry completely retooled from peacetime economy to a war production footing. It then conceived, designed and put into production literally millions of new weapons on a scale that had never seen or built before. It then created a world-wide supply and logistics system to equip and train the millions of men and women who had been inducted into the military. At the same time, an efficient civilian rationing system was put into operation. Millions of low-skilled civilians, many with limited educations, were quickly mobilized and trained in high-skilled production jobs. At one point, they could build a cargo ship, from keel laying to launching, in three days! All of this was accomplished without computer and digital technology, modern communication techniques, or CNC manufacturing.And today, the government tells us it will take two years to design a parking permit?Lee FowbleEdmonds

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